We’re going to be testing out a few formats for this newsletter over the next few weeks. I want to be able to use this space to share more things going forward, so instead of sharing the whole article here, I’ll start to share only snippets and link to the full article on the website.

I’ll also be testing out some different sections and mini-essays/thoughts about things I just want to talk about.

Once we get into January, we may retain some of this new structure, but I have a whole series on maximizing profit in your business (which I can’t wait to share). This is something I’ve been working on for a few months now, and we’re taking things to the next level: articles, videos, and worksheets every week.

I know you’ll love it and I can’t wait to hear the feedback and results for those who walk through the series and implement things into their business.

ESSENTIAL OVER PERIPHERAL

This last week was Thanksgiving here in the US (I wrote about gratitude and making money here), which means most of us got some additional time off. It’s the only holiday set on a Thursday/Friday and as a result, a lot of people get a 4 day weekend (sorry bankers).

As a single guy and then married without kids, these holidays often meant getting to sleep in and a little slower days between family activities. With kids… it means waking up and entertaining kids for 12+ hours straight.

So most of the time, you end up going back to work more exhausted than you left it.

Yes, I love my kids. Yes, the holidays are exciting. But, honestly, it can be a mixed bag.

So, going into Thanksgiving, I was excited to see family, but terrified of the unpredictability of what the days might look like with 2 boys under 5.

Thanksgiving was going over to a relative's house, where we’d celebrate with 26 people (11 of those being children under 13). While I was excited to see everyone, I knew it would be chaos.

We show up… and the kids are off. Immediately, toys are all over and intense playing is happening. Then something unexpected happened: the kids disappeared outside without a peep.

The presence of the older children meant that kids could play (mostly) without adult supervision and that we could enjoy adult conversations for once.

While we’re lucky to have a lot of built-in child care, it’s still rare these days to get to talk to another adult for an extended period of time without interruption…

The kids came in for lunch, then disappeared again… as the adults were left… in a weird calmness… to just… talk.

5 hours later, we rounded up the kids and drove the hour home feeling… energized?

This was the last thing I expected after time with 11 kids and 15 adults, but here we were.

Here I’d been, putting on my “armor” preparing to go to battle, but the result was the complete opposite.

It was a great reminder that in life and business, we should absolutely plan… but when that planning turns to fretting or worry, we’re wasting our energy.

As we enter this holiday season, it’s a good reminder that with more functions less work days, our focus should be on the essential, not the peripheral.

Here’s to focusing on the essential this holiday season.

THE 7 LIES YOU TELL YOURSELF WHILE PLANNING NEXT YEAR

As we head into planning season, it’s easy for business owners to map out a year full of big goals, clean timelines, and ambitious growth targets. But most plans fall apart for the same predictable reason: we build them on assumptions that simply aren’t real.

Today, I want to walk through the seven founder delusions that sabotage annual planning… the mental traps that make plans look great on paper but fall apart in reality. I explain each delusion, show how it shows up inside real businesses, and outline practical ways to counter them.

The 7 delusions are:

• The Growth Delusion: assuming revenue will “just grow” without inputs or a real forecast.
• The Bandwidth Delusion: believing the team can run 8+ initiatives at once without tradeoffs.
• The Smooth Operating Delusion: assuming next year will magically be less chaotic than last.
• The Timeline Delusion: radically underestimating how long initiatives take.
• The Silver Bullet Delusion: expecting a single hire, tool, or expansion to make everything easier.
• The Cashflow Delusion: forgetting that timing kills plans if cashflow isn’t modeled.
• The Magical Cuts Delusion: assuming flat cost reductions won’t impact the business.

The core message: planning isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about forcing clarity of thinking today so we can realistically reflect and adjust our plan in the future.

When you replace delusion with detail, your annual plan becomes realistic, resilient, and far easier to execute.

​Read the article >​
​Watch the video >​

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Thanks for reading–see you next week,

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